MUMBAI: Shiv Sena (UBT) leader Sanjay Raut on Friday claimed his party will contest 23 of the 48 Lok Sabha seats in Maharashtra. Talking to reporters, Raut said a detailed discussion took place before the meeting of the opposition bloc INDIA in the national capital earlier this week during which he, along with Shiv Sena (UBT) leaders Uddhav Thackeray and Aaditya Thackeray, held talks with Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge, senior leaders Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi, as well as AICC general secretary K C Venugopal.
“We will contest 23 seats because we have always been contesting on the same number,” Raut said.
The Shiv Sena (UBT) is part of the Maha Vikas Aghadi, which also comprises the Congress and the Sharad Pawar-led Nationalist Congress Party. These parties are also part of the Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance (INDIA).
He did not comment on the number of seats the Congress and NCP contest will contest.
“The seat-sharing has almost been decided. That (talks) will take place in Delhi because there is no single (Congress) leader in Maharashtra to take decisions and if there are leaders they don’t have the authority to take decisions. They have to again ask Delhi,” Raut added.
In the 2019 Lok Sabha polls, the undivided Shiv Sena contested 23 seats in alliance with the Bharatiya Janata Party and won 18. Of these 18, a total of 13 are now aligned with Chief Minister Eknath Shinde post the split in the Sena in June last year.